Some teas are named for the place they grow. Others are named for the people who first picked them. White peony tea (白牡丹茶, bái mǔdān chá) is named for something stranger and lovelier: the legend says its leaves were once flowers.
Known in Chinese as Bai Mudan (白牡丹), white peony tea is a gentle, downy white tea from the mountains of Fujian Province. When the leaves unfurl in hot water, a pale silver bud nestles among soft green leaves like a blossom opening, and you can see at once how it earned its name. Yet the deeper story behind that name reaches back some 2,000 years, to a devoted son, an ailing mother, and a grove of peonies that, as the tale goes, turned to tea overnight.
This article follows that story from legend into the cup. We will trace its origin, explore why this tea is named after a flower, examine what the leaf actually is, weigh the benefits attributed to it by tradition and modern research, and learn how to brew it at home.
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